ORLANDO, Fla. – On Sunday, as of the 8 a.m. tropical update, the National Hurricane Center highlighted the western Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico for potential tropical development again.
A low-pressure area is expected to form in the western Caribbean Sea around midweek and could move into the Gulf of Mexico, just days after Hurricane Helene directly hit the Big Bend region.
The odds for tropical development are expected to increase over the next 24-48 hours, and this area could become a tropical depression by mid to late next week.
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This isn’t an immediate threat, but areas along the Gulf Coast and northwestern Caribbean should keep a close watch on the updates.
Speaking in Pasco County on Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed concerns that the tropical area could become the state’s next big storm.
“We have those concerns too. Now, it’s just too early to know whether there is going to be something that impacts us, but there is a potential for development right now in a similar area to where Helene developed, and so we’ll just keep monitoring that, but people should just know that’s out there. Nothing to necessarily get scared about because there’s nothing that we can do to prevent it, it’s either going to happen or it’s not. It might form and go west, there’s a lot of models (...) some of the models have it going toward Louisiana, Texas, some have it going more east, we just don’t know. We’ll see. But know it’s out there, understand that this is something that could potentially have some level of impact,” DeSantis said, emphasizing the importance of cleanup and preparation. “(...) We want to be helpful to get this debris. Even if you had a fraction of the surge you had for Helene come with another storm this season, this debris out there — I mean, that debris is going to go everywhere. It’s going to create hazards, and it’s going to make it more difficult for us to recover here. So people should just know that there is a possibility, it’s too soon to know for sure but it is not without the realm of possibility.”
Watch Gov. DeSantis’ news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.
There are also two other tropical waves out over the Atlantic Basin to watch. One area has an 80% chance for tropical development and the other has 20%. The next names are Kirk, Leslie and Milton.
Tropical Storm Joyce is weakening and is expected to become a remnant low early this week.
Hurricane Isaac is moving over cooler ocean waters and will turn into a tropical storm in the next few hours.
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